I featured Laura and Will’s cute engagement shoot back in January, so i had to follow up with their fun wedding.

Laura and Will were married in April, and had their reception at Beechdown in Hampshire. They wanted their wedding to be relaxed and informal yet traditional. The vibrant orange and sage colour scheme is totally fun, it just works.

These two smiled all day long, and you can just see they are full of beans. They even headed to the on site gym for a few fun shots due to the rain.

Thanks so much to the lovely Louise Bjorling Photography for sharing her images with us this afternoon.

Names…. Laura and Will

Wedding Date…. 28.04.2012

The Proposal…. 24.12.10. I love Christmas Eve, it has a really magical feel for me. This particular Christmas Eve I was lucky enough to escape from work a little early and had a few errands to run before going home to start our Christmas. It was the first Christmas we were celebrating in our house so was quite a special time for us. I’d had a couple of phone calls from Will that afternoon checking when I’d be home, and I kept thinking to myself ‘I’ll be home whenever, chill out it’s Christmas!’ I walked up the garden path, and saw a golden glow coming from the windows… thinking the house was on fire I cautiously opened the door (!) to find a nervous Will popping his head out of the kitchen door. I walked into our living room to see tea-lights in the shape of a heart , and turning around found the whole room filled with more tea-lights! (Why it didn’t click then I don’t know!) Will insisted I sit down and close my eyes…. I protested telling him we had to keep presents for Christmas Day! Impatiently he told me to sit down again, and when I opened my eyes he was down on one knee, with a ring! He was so nervous, and I was so shocked it took a couple of minutes to speak. But of course I said YES!

The Vision for the day…. We wanted relaxed and informal. The ceremony was always going to be traditional, in the church my parents married in 33 years ago but for the evening we wanted our guests to just have a good time and really enjoy themselves.

The Planning process…. Will and I weren’t the best at planning! But we did the big things first (mainly the venue) and then just took our time choosing what we wanted our day to be.

The Venue… St Mary’s Church, Old Basing in Basingstoke. Beechdown, Basingstoke

The Dress + Accessories….. My dress was an ivory strapless piece, it had intricate unsymmetrical beading on the bodice and on the left hip were 3 roses. The skirt was fuller and had a v-shaped tulle and stitching that added extra shape. I LOVED IT!

Finding the dress…. I really had no idea what I wanted in a wedding dress. I thought I wanted simple, and as I tried dresses on, I found the simple ones had something missing. I’d like the skirt of a dress, or the beading of another etc… It wasn’t until we visited Sofi Designs where I found 2 dresses that encompassed bits of others I’d liked. I couldn’t decide so went back a couple of weeks later with both bridesmaids and my mum… they helped me to choose.

Groom’s attire… Will and the groomsmen wore traditional wedding suits… Black tails and grey/black stripey trousers. The shirts were white coupled with ivory waistcoats. Will wore an ivory cravat and handkerchief, whilst the groomsmen wore a sage cravat and handkerchief.

The Readings + Music…. Our favourite reading was one my sister read for us… a sample from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Our first dance was Will’s choice… his favourite band Muse, with ‘Feelin Good.

Beautiful bridesmaids….. My bridesmaids looked totally stunning. They wore simple sage and ivory dresses, and I asked them to choose how they wanted their hair, shoes etc… – I liked that they were able to feel comfortable but also show their personalities by being different. They were the best support for me, and even better arranged an amazing hen do :-)

The Flowers… I saw a bouquet online, and I took it to the florist and asked her to replicate it with ivory and orange flowers. It contained an outer ring of ivory calla lillies, and was filled with orange gerberas. The bridesmaids had smaller versions. The groomsmen had mini ivory calla lillies for button holes. I loved the bright orange alongside the simpler colours of sage and ivory, it added a bit of life.

The Cake… A family friend made our cake… we didn’t want anything too traditional, so after trawling the Internet I found a topsy turvy type cake that we fell in love with. It was a 3-tier cake, with top and bottom in ivory and the middle different stripes of green. We had 3 sponges – chocolate, Madeira and lemon.

Your Photographer…. The amazing Louise Bjorling :-) She gave us so many ideas and although it drizzled all day she made the shots work by using the inside of the church to make the most of it.

The Details + Decor…. The decor had details in the same colour scheme as the flowers: bright orange and sage. There where soup bubbles placed out on the tables together with chocolate heart favors, and there was a photo collage for the guests to see in the drinks room.

The Honeymoon…. Mexico :-) Not many more words to describe this trip other then AMAZING!

Memorable moments… The whole day was really fantastic. I do remember the excitement at seeing everything on the day – although we’d discussed what we wanted with the florist, the cake maker etc… to actually see everything was great. We were blown away by how well they’d all listened and created exactly what we wanted.

Advice for other couples… Will says… Don’t do it!!! Seriously, do it together and don’t let it take over your life.

Credit where credit is due…

Florist – The Butterfly Tree www.thebutterflytree.uk.com

Hair – Hannah Brown www.hannahbrownhair.vpweb.co.uk

Make-up – Georgina Neame

Dress – Sofi Designs – www.sofi-designs.co.uk

Venue – www.beechdown.co.uk

Photographer – Louise Bjorling – www.louisebjorling.com

Thanks so much to Laura and Will for sharing thier super fun wedding with us today :-)) XOXO Lou

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT...